高处不胜寒的职场女高管

Do men and women converge in terms of what motivates them as they climb the corporate ladder?

在攀登事业阶梯的动机方面，男性和女性趋同吗？
It is a question laden with preconceptions and assumptions – indeed, there is little agreement on whether behavioural differences dictated by gender exist in the first place, or if they do, whether they might be dictated by industry sector.
这个问题充满偏见和假设，实际上，关于由性别决定的行为差异是否一开始就存在，或者如果存在，是否可能由行业决定这一问题，人们几乎没有达成任何共识。
There is also the complication of cause and effect: do the most successful women start out with more typically male motivations and behavioural traits?
其中还有着复杂的因果关系：最为成功的女性是否一开始就有着更典型的男性动机和行为特点？
But there is wider agreement on one point: that being part of a small group is going to influence behaviour – being in a minority does make a difference.
然而，关于一点有着较为广泛的认同：成为一个小群体中的一员将对行为方式产生影响，身为少数群体中的一员确实会有所不同。
For research purposes, Lynda Gratton, a professor at London Business School, defines a minority as “less than 30 per cent”, whether it is by gender, race, or having pink hair. “What we know about group psychology is that the tighter the group gets, the more people have to fit in, and the fewer of them there are, the harder it is to find role models. If anyone is in a minority, there is a huge ‘minority effect’,” she says.
出于研究的目的，伦敦商学院(London Business School)教授琳达?格莱顿(Lynda Gratton)把少数群体定义为占比“不到30%”，不管标准是性别、种族还是有粉红色的头发。她表示：“关于群体心理学，我们知道，群体越紧密、人们必须融入得越多、群体成员越少，就越难找到角色模型。如果有人属于少数群体，就会产生巨大的‘少数效应’。”
“As an observer of organisations, I am always amazed at the homogeneity of senior groups. When a woman is in a minority – and there is hardly an industry where they are not in a minority – they are on their own. I have no evidence for this, and it is personal observation, but women do seem to be more individual the more senior they are, because they have to decide who they are very early on in their career,” says Ms Gratton.
“作为一名企业观察者，我一直对高管群体的同质性感到吃惊。当一名女性属于少数群体时（她们几乎在所有的行业中都属于少数群体），她们得靠自己。关于这点，我没有证据，这属于个人观点。但随着职位的上升，女性确实表现得更为个体化，因为她们必须在事业的极早阶段就决定自己的角色，”格莱顿表示。
Research at London Business School has found little evidence of gender differences at middle management level across industry sectors. But studies of attitudes in and around the financial services sector – where there are very few women at senior levels – proves interesting.
伦敦商学院的研究发现，几乎没有证据表明，各个行业的中级管理层存在性别差异。但对金融服务业内部和相关领域（在这些行业处于高管级别的女性非常少）人士态度调查的结果相当有趣。
A recent report on Women In Banking by the Institute of Leadership & Management, sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, concluded that banking’s male-dominated management culture was the biggest barrier to women reaching the top, and it highlighted the need for major changes of culture and attitude. But it also found that women were far more likely to ask for pay rises and promotions than their male counterparts.
领导与管理学院(Institute of Leadership & Management)最近编制的名为《银行业中的女性》(Women In Banking)的报告总结称，银行业由男性主导的管理文化是女性升至最高层的最大障碍，报告还强调了对文化和态度进行重大变革的必要性。该报告由苏格兰皇家银行(Royal Bank of Scotland)赞助。该报告还发现，与男性相比，女性更有可能要求加薪和升职。
So are the women who are currently successful in this sector the ones who have absorbed and accepted the existing culture?
那么，那些目前在这个行业取得成功的女性是否已吸收并接受了现有文化？
“There is convergence among people who enter the financial services world in the first place. It sucks you in. It has nothing to do with being male or female, and is more about your value systems – anyone going into that environment and being successful ends up a certain way,” says a male former investment banker.
一位男性前投资银行家表示：“最初进入金融服务行业时，人们就有一种趋同性。它把你吸引了进来。这与男女无关，而更多与你的价值体系有关，任何一个进入这种环境并取得成功的人，都是以某种方式做到这一点的。”
Lorraine Young, a chartered secretary who used to work in the City of London and now runs Lorraine Young Company Secretarial Services in Kent, says: “The culture of the environment is very important in influencing what you want as you progress.”
曾在伦敦金融城(City of London)做特许秘书的洛兰?杨(Lorraine Young)现在在英国肯特郡经营着洛兰杨秘书服务公司(Lorraine Young Company Secretarial Services)。她表示：“在事业发展过程中，所处环境的文化对你想要做什么有非常重要的影响。”
Another woman who left the City after a career of 15 years, says: “Everything you do when working in the City is based on an annual cycle and around what you get paid. You are forbidden to discuss what that amount is, so you display your success by what you buy – watches, handbags, cars – whether you are male or female.”
另一位在工作15年后离开伦敦金融城的女性表示：“在金融城工作时，你所做的一切都以年度为周期，并围绕薪酬展开。你被严禁讨论薪酬的具体金额，因此你要通过你购买的东西（手表、手袋、汽车）来展示你的成功，不管你是男是女。”
In 2011, ILM published research on Ambition and Gender At Work, which found that women are less confident in their own abilities compared to men and have lower career expectations, with only 42 per cent of female middle managers expecting to reach senior manager level in 10 years, compared to 70 per cent of men.
2011年，领导与管理学院发表了名为《工作中的抱负与性别》(Ambition and Gender At Work)的研究报告。研究发现，与男性相比，女性对于自己的能力不那么自信，职业预期较低，只有42%的女性中级管理者预计自己会在10年后升到高管级别，而有这种想法的男性占到了70%。
But when they do get to “the top” they seem to find it a very lonely place, making it difficult to reach any conclusions on whether their behaviour “converges” with that of men at the same level.
然而，当升至“最高层”时，她们发现那里是一个非常寂寞的地方，这让人们很难就她们的行为是否与同级别的男性“趋同”做出结论。
Louise Ashley, a research fellow at Cass Business School who works with professional services firms, speaks regularly with young lawyers at entry level with the largest law firms. She says most men talk about aiming to become a partner, whereas women tend not to.
卡斯商学院(Cass Business School)的研究员路易丝?阿什利(Louise Ashley)在专业服务机构工作，她经常与大律师事务所的初级年轻律师交谈。她表示，多数男性会谈到自己的目标是成为合伙人，而女性往往不会谈到这个。
A female partner at a large law firm says the ones who do get there “are not going to admit to weakness or a need for internal lines of communication in a male-dominated environment”. In some cases, gender differences can be magnified at senior levels, as women find themselves isolated: “Men can leave their weekend at home or share the anecdotes of ‘what a witch the wife was this weekend’ with other male partners at work or over a game of golf, while a senior woman may have no one to talk to except her female junior associate who mistakenly thinks she has everything,” says the law firm partner.
一家大型律师事务所的一位女合伙人表示，那些确实升到高层的女性“不会承认自己的劣势，或者在一个男性主导的环境里设置内部沟通线路的必要性”。在高管级别，性别差异有时可能被放大，因为女性发现自己被孤立了。这位合伙人表示：“男人们可以在家度周末，或者在上班或打高尔夫时与其他男合伙人闲聊‘这个周末老婆是多么迷人’，而除了误以为她拥有一切的职位较低的女同事之外，女高管可能找不到人交谈。”
Being in a minority can mean that, even at the top, there is no natural network. Some law firms, including Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, are working to address this by setting up formal networks at all levels, including the most senior. Freshfields partner Avril Martindale says: “I feel quite passionately about this. I have found as I got more senior that it is very important that I have a network of senior women who face the same issues as I do.”
身为少数群体可能意味着，即便在高层，也不存在一个自然而然的人际网络。包括富而德律师事务所(Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)在内的一些律师事务所正通过在所有级别（包括最高级别）当中创建正式的网络，来努力解决这一问题。富而德律师事务所合伙人埃夫丽尔?马丁代尔(Avril Martindale)表示：“我对此热情很高。我发现当我升至更高级别时，拥有一个由和我有着同样问题的女高管组成的人际网络非常重要。”
Children are another significant determinant of workplace behaviours and attitudes. Women say that at junior levels it is fine to “all go out to the pub and have a drink together” but pressing issues surrounding childcare and bringing up children can form a divide between the sexes at more senior levels.
子女是决定工作中的行为和态度的另一个关键因素。女性表示，在初级职位，“所有人都走进酒馆一起喝酒”没什么问题，但围绕育儿和抚养子女的紧迫问题可能会在较高级别造成性别差异。
The extent to which women adopt male traits in the workplace should be of great concern to all employers, according to Charles Elvin, chief executive of ILM. “It would be very bad for any organisation to have the sexes converge in what they want. Cognitive diversity is very important – you don’t want women to become like men or men becoming like women. Both depth and breadth of perception is needed to innovate, change and drive an organisation forward.
领导与管理学院首席执行官查尔斯?埃尔文(Charles Elvin)表示，女性在工作时在多大程度上表现出男性特征应引起所有雇主的重视。埃尔文表示：“对于任何一家公司而言，男女在愿望方面趋同都是非常糟糕的事情。认知多元化非常重要，你不希望女人变得像男人一样，或者男人变得像女人一样。为了创新、改革并推动企业前进，观念的深度和广度都是必需的。
“Large organisations are losing a major portion of their talent as women are filtered out all the way through the career process. But it is not ultimately a ‘woman’s issue’ – we need to be innovative about how to manage the workplace for both men and women,” says Mr Elvin.
“由于女性在职业发展过程中被过滤掉了，大企业正在损失大量人才。但这最终不是一个‘女性问题’，我们需要表现出创新性，同时为男性和女性管理好工作场所。”